Relief for Survivors of Miners Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill makes it easier for survivors of miners to establish entitlement to black lung benefits, creates a payment program for certain attorneys' fees and medical expenses in contested claims, and requires Government Accountability Office reviews of interim benefits, benefit adequacy, and later survivor claims.
Who Benefits and How
Survivors of miners with black lung disease and their attorneys would benefit from easier benefit presumptions and potential payment of certain litigation-related costs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund and federal administrators would face broader benefit exposure, new fee-payment responsibilities, and more study and reporting work.
Key Provisions
- Broadens presumptions that a miner's death was due to pneumoconiosis for survivor claims.
- Creates a payment program for certain attorneys' fees and unreimbursed medical expenses in qualifying contested claims.
- Requires GAO reports on interim benefits, benefit adequacy, and possible subsequent survivor claims.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Expand and study support for survivors of miners whose deaths were due to pneumoconiosis by easing presumptions in the Black Lung Benefits Act, creating a payment program for claimant costs, and directing GAO reviews.
Key Policy Areas
Labor, Healthcare, Mining
Primary Purpose
Expand and study support for survivors of miners whose deaths were due to pneumoconiosis by easing presumptions in the Black Lung Benefits Act, creating a payment program for claimant costs, and directing GAO reviews.
Policy Domains
GAO Reviews
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Congressional overseers and future black lung claimants
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Government Accountability Office
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Claim Cost Payment Program
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Claimants and their attorneys in qualifying black lung cases
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Black Lung Disability Trust Fund and Labor Department administrators
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Survivor Benefit Presumptions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Survivors of miners with black lung disease
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Black Lung Disability Trust Fund and benefit payers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Warner (for himself, Mr. Kaine, and Mr. Fetterman) introduced …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Claimants and attorneys in qualifying black lung cases, Survivors of miners with black lung disease
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A survivor-friendly evidentiary rule that can be rebutted only by establishing that no part of the miner's death was caused by pneumoconiosis.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology